My job ... I do nothing, it pays nothing, but - you guessed it - it's better than nothing. Amy Hempel More Quotes by Amy Hempel More Quotes From Amy Hempel We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive. Amy Hempel dies alive right-now Sometimes a flat-footed sentence is what serves, so you don't get all writerly: 'He opened the door.' There, it's open. Amy Hempel writing doors sometimes It was like that class at school where the teacher talks about Realization, about how you could realize something big in a commonplace thing. The example he gave--and the liar said it really happened--was that once while drinking orange juice, he'd realized he would be dead someday. He wondered if we, his students, had had similar 'realizations.' Is he kidding? I thought. Once I cashed a paycheck and I realized it wasn't enough. Once I had food poisoning, and realized I was trapped inside my body. Amy Hempel drinking liars teacher Good leaders being scarce, following yourself is allowed. Amy Hempel good-leader following leader I've always known when I start a story what the last line is. It's always been the case, since the first story I ever wrote. I don't know how it's going to get there, but I seem to need the destination. I need to know where I end up. It never changes, ever. Amy Hempel lines stories needs They say the smart dog obeys but the smarter dog knows when to disobey. Amy Hempel smart dog knows Wear your heart on the page, and people will read to find out how you solved being alive. Amy Hempel alive heart people In my head there's a broken balcony I fall off of when I speak. Amy Hempel broken speak fall Sometimes I can better describe a person by another person's reaction. In a story in my first book, I couldn't think of a way to sufficiently describe the charisma of a certain boy, so the narrator says, "I knew girls who saved his gum." Amy Hempel girl boys book I do feel that if you can write one good sentence and then another good sentence and then another, you end up with a good story. Amy Hempel ends stories writing Just because you have stopped sinking doesn't mean you're not still underwater. Amy Hempel underwater sinking mean I meet a person, and in my mind I'm saying three minutes; I give you three minutes to show me the spark. Amy Hempel three mind giving I exaggerated even before I began to exaggerate, because it's true — nothing is ever quite as bad as it could be. Amy Hempel exaggerated I'm not first and foremost interested in story and the what-happens, but I'm interested in who's telling it and how they're telling it and the effects of whatever happened on the characters and the people. Amy Hempel stories character people if it's true your life flashes past your eyes before you die, then it is also the truth that your life rushes forth when you are ready to start to truly be alive. Amy Hempel alive eye past I want to know everything about you, so I tell you everything about myself. Amy Hempel knows want I have written letters that are failures, but I have written few, I think, that are lies. Trying to reach a person means asking the same question over and over again: Is this the truth, or not? I begin this letter to you, then, in the western tradition. If I understand it, the western tradition is: Put your cards on the table. Amy Hempel mean lying thinking I sleep with a glass of water on the nightstand so I can see by its level if the coastal earth is trembling or if the shaking is still me. Amy Hempel glasses sleep water Just once in my life--oh, when have I ever wanted anything just once in my life? Amy Hempel wanted Dreams: the place most of us get what we need. Amy Hempel dream needs
